A special thanks to all of you who are still interested in my story, and especially to those of you to took the time and effort to review…I love you lots! :) Since it's the holidays and all….I present to you the next chapter!

I look away from her.

'Sorry but I just can't bear to look at you right now' the tone of my voice comes out icier than I intended.

The room was silent for a moment, and then I hear a stifled sob before I hear footsteps leaving the room and the door closing.

Derek's POV2

'Mer…you've gotta eat.' I plead for the hundredth time.

We are now sitting in the kitchen of our house…ermm..I mean her mother's mansion, and looking out at the window to the setting autumn sun. It was getting chilly, the first indication that winter is around the corner.

Meredith just stares out of the window watching yet another golden leaf take its suicide plunge to the ground.

' I'm not hungry'

' But the baby….'

'Neither is the baby…' there was something sharp and icy about her tone, almost as icy as Lexie's tone in the hospital room.

The chicken tikka baguette lying on a plate in front of her remains untouched.

I place a hand on her shoulder.

'Mer…I know you're upset. And so is Lexie. I'm sure she didn't mean it…she is just very devastated at this moment. Just give her some space ok? She'll come around….'

' She can't bear to look at me Derek….She hates me now…..It isn't fair that I'm still pregnant and she isn't'

' I know….but it's not your fault, it's not anyone's fault. Life is never really fair..'

I try to cheer her up but I know that I'm failing miserably.

Meredith stares at the baguette and suddenly picks it up.

'I'm not hungry but I think the baby is starving'

I personally think that it's a rather offbase statement, as how would she know that the baby is starving if she isn't? Maybe new research have shown that fetuses send these signals, these impulses to their mothers brain telling them that they need food.

Anyways, at least she is eating now. I was starting to get worried that she was going to starve them both to death as she hadn't taken a bite of anything since that morning.

'Can we talk about something else?' she asks suddenly. 'Distract me Derek. Just distract me from the fact that I've lost a good friend of mine and lost a niece or nephew, another good friend is still recovering from cancer, and my sister doesn't want to talk to me.'

Of course I would do anything to distract her, because it was getting depressing hearing her list of catastrophies.

'Sure Mer' I stroke her long wavy dark blonde hair. 'What do you want to do tonight? Take a walk in the park? Go for a nice cup of coffee in Starbucks? Or better still….a date in the shower and bedroom?' I wriggle my eyebrows at her.

She starts giggling which makes me jump inside a little. I just love to see her giggle and smile.

' You pervert.' She smacks me at the thighs. 'You can't just abstain for one day can you?'

I pretend to pout. 'No, I can't. How can I abstain when I have such a beautiful wife staying with me?'

She blushes.

I pull her closer to me and smell the lavender scent of her hair. At this moment, I feel like I would do just about anything in the world to protect this beautiful woman in my arms and the baby that she is carrying inside of her.

As if it's an automatic reflex, my hand moves to the place where I know our baby is currently safely nestled in. I don't know if it's an illusion or what, but it really does seem as if our baby has grown overnight. I can now feel the soft curves of my wife's protruding belly when I rub it.

And Meredith just had to destroy our beautiful moment by muttering something inaudible.

'What is it dear?'

' I said I think we could start thinking about baby names.'

"Hmm…? I thought you wanted to wait until we know the gender?'

' Yeah…but we could..you know come up with several names for each gender first'

' How about a name which suits both genders? Like Sam or Charlie. Or Alex…'

'Alex? I'm sure both Alex and Lexie would like that' Mer giggled.

' Or Shigella and Salmonella'

' Derek!' my dear wife exclaimes glaring at me in the cute way she knows how. 'We are so NOT naming our child after a species of bacteria!'

I chuckle.

Mer's face lights up suddenly.

' Oh yeah….how could I forget!'

' George for a boy…Georgia for a girl'

That sounds good. Great actually.

'Mer are you ok?' I ask when she winced.

' Yeah…I just…I feel something weird…I don't know like a butterfly or something fluttering inside me'

Then suddenly her face lights up again by the realization..

' Derek…it's our baby…I can feel it moving!'

Half an hour later, we were still sitting in the same spot, with me with one arm around my wife's shoulder and another arm around her belly and her with her head leaned comfortably on my chest. Her eyelids are starting to get heavy I can see, a term which we call bilateral ptosis as an inside joke. I have to smile, she looks even more lovely like this if that is ever possible.

A single noise startles me. Is that the front door opening? Are those footsteps? Is there an intruder in my house? My whole body tenses up...and I'm about to grab one of the knives from the kitchen…

And then I hear laughter from the hallway. Familiar laughter.

'Oh Alex…you're such a jerk do you know that?' Izzie's perky voice fills the hallway.

I relax again. I've almost forgotten that she is being discharged today.

Now both Alex and Izzie are standing at the kitchen hallway. Mer stirs beside me.

' Hey...Derek I am back home. I started working today…Bailey let me scrub in on a gallbladder removal' says Izzie happily.

' Good, would you like to scrub in with me tomorrow then? There is this kid with a type 4 astrocytoma'

Izzie whoops in delight as Alex groans.

' You're too hyper today. Seriously..'

'She doesn't know about Lexie' Alex mouths to me.

Beside me, I can hear a small voice….'How about me? I want to scrub in too….'

That's when I know everything is now back to normal again. Almost….

It's well past dinner and Mark and I are at our favourite hangout…Joe's. Meredith has good naturedly allowed me to accompany Mark after I received the call from him right after dinner. Anyways she should be in good hands with Izzie and Alex around.

Mark lifts up his glass of tequila shakes the glass watching the liquid twirl. I thought only the ladies drink tequila so it surprised me somewhat when he first ordered it. Now it's his fifth glass of the night.

I know there's something disturbing him, but he just refuses to tell me. Instead, we have been sitting in almost total silence tonight, him downing his tequila and me my whisky.

Finally he speaks up.

'I was supposed to be a father in 8 months time. A father. Who would've thought?'

'And if before, I would've bolted for the door and disappeared from the face of the earth if I've been told that I would be a father, I just…I don't know….I just somehow feel like I might've been happy, ecstatic even had Lexie told me'

'She changed you' I say simply.

' What?'

'You've a changed man now Mark Sloan' I say, as I give him a rough pat on his shoulder.

' And you have Lexie to thank for that. You almost lost her, but she is a fighter, she is back. And now you have another chance with her. Go back to the hospital and be near her, be there for her like she's always been for you.'

Mark stares at me, a blank expression on his face.

' Go…just go back and tell her how much she means to you…You both still have a bright future ahead of you..' I smile at him.

He smiles back. He pulls 50 dollar out of his pocket and presses it in my palm before he walks out of the door.

I am left alone now, reminiscing how I almost lost Meredith twice, the last time just a couple of months ago and how thankful I was when both times she came back to me.

The next morning, we are now in Lexie's hospital room again. Meredith insisted on me accompanying her, as she is afraid Lexie might hurt her feelings again and she might need me for comfort again..

Lexie isn't alone in the room. Mark, who I assume has taken my advice last night, is sitting beside her. They are both smiling now, which makes me smile too. But Mer looks weary and refuses to leave my side.

' Hey Mer…' Lexie was the first to speak. 'I'm…so sorry about yesterday, I just….I was really upset….'

Mer now sits on the bed beside her sister.

'It's ok…I know…you've every right to be upset….'

Both sisters smile at each other, which leaves me a warm feeling in my heart.

'Mer…you know what?'

'What'

' I had a dream last night. I dreamt about both of them.'

'Who?'

'George was holding a little girl in his arms. She looks to be about three or four. She saw me and she ran towards me calling 'Mommy'. She is so pretty Mer. Has long wavy dark brown hair…And he…he was so handsome in his army uniform…'

I think I see Lexie's eyes shine as she says this.

' Oh Lexie' whispers Mer.

' I know…I'm just..so happy now…. I know she's safe in heaven with George' Lexie smiles.

At what age are we when we're in heaven? I wonder. I mean if you die at old age, you aren't going to wander around heaven with wrinkles and a toothless smile are you? Or if you die when you're still a fetus, you're not going to wander around heaven being a fetus are you?

'There are some things in life we can never figure out' I think to myself as I follow Mark out of the room to give the Grey sisters some time alone with each other.

I didn't know I was speaking out loud until Mark replies

' Yeah…we can never figure life out. You just gotta keep facing bravely all the curveballs that life throws at you. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade…'

Ah…that is my favourite quote of the day. Maybe I could put that on my latest Facebook status or twitter status.

Arizona and Callie have just walked past us. There is a little girl aged about five or six in between them and they are holding each hand of the child.

And the three of them enter Lexie's room, as Mark and I stare at them and glance quizzically at each other.

Preview for next chapter…

'?' Sophie asks in a small voice.

'Yes dear?'

' When can I go home?'

I swallow hard. What do I tell her?

There you go….I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Oh yeah…just some random comments about the actual show…I really hope for a MerDer baby sometime soon. And I don't dig Lexie's new hairdo. Lexie is a natural brunette.

And…please oh please do review!! Your reviews are really important to keep me going writing this story. So yes, I really do appreciate your comments and reviews. : )